EDITORIAL : STATE OF SIEGE; LAUSD'S CRISIS OPENS THE WAY FOR DRAMATIC CHANGE.

EDUCATION cannot go forward when the LAUSD is under a state of siege and a new crisis is popping up daily, almost hourly.

But crises can be beneficial, if managed effectively.

The new reform-minded board has a unique window of opportunity to rid the nation's second-largest school district of a generation of failure and restructure it into a model district for the new millennium.

It will require a three-step process. In fact, it may be what the board's new, take-no-prisoners president, Genethia Hayes, has already smartly put it in motion.

1. Buy out Superintendent Ruben Zacarias' contract ASAP.

This is an untenable situation. Buying off a man who has utterly failed to do his job, as evidenced by the current crisis and a scathing report by his own inspector general, Don Mullinax, must pain these reform-minded members.

But they have no other viable option. Firing him would most certainly mean a protracted and costly lawsuit, even though the board would almost as certainly win.

That means Zacarias - who is presiding over a crumbling, corrupt, crisis-riddled school district - is on the eve of winning nearly a $500,000 buyout bonus bonanza.

That was the figure estimated by board member David Tokofsky when the old board in late June extended Zacarias' contract for a year. That figure included $155,814 in unused vacation time that he has accrued to date, or about 55 weeks' worth of unused vacation.

But whatever the final number, it must be done. Until the board cuts the head off a cancerous, unaccountable body, the 700,000-student district will remain paralyzed and comatose.

The cost is small when weighed against the futures of children who have no place to go if they can't read and write.

2. Let newly appointed CEO Howard Miller work his magic.

Miller, a former board member, is the man of the hour. Praised for his intelligence and political savvy, Miller must move quickly to fire the host of incompetent bureaucrats named in the Mullinax report - and even those who are not named but who do nothing.

Simultaneously, he must reorganize the district into one that has managers who are accountable to assistant superintendents, who are accountable to the superintendent, who is accountable to the board.

3. The day Zacarias leaves office, the board must immediately begin the search for a successor, who will take office in June, when Miller gracefully leaves office.

If Miller has done his job well - clearing out 25 years of incompetence from the top down - then the new superintendent can immediately focus on improving grades, evaluating principals, hiring good teachers, building schools.

LAUSD is dying under the weight of its own corpulent corruption.

If ever there was a time for a coup d'etat, it is now.

This crisis of leadership and management creates opportunities for dramatic change.

The board should seize the day.